Brais González
*8 June 1987
Works by Brais González
Biography
Brais González is one of the most eclectic pianists of his generation. His career has always been split between classical performance and an exciting journey as a composer and sound creator who always seeks to bring together different stylistic universes, from contemporary music to folk, indie or film music. His compositional work synthesises all these worlds; in them, Brais proposes a promenade through soundscapes always built around improvisation.
Born in Vigo in 1987, Brais began his piano studies in his hometown with professors Aleksandras Jurgelionis, Aldona Dvarionaité, and Ricardas Biveinis, with whom he also studied composition. He continued his training at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg (Austria) under the direction of pianist Rolf Plagge, completing his studies at the Conservatorio Superior de Vigo with Severino Ortiz and the Conservatorio Superior de Oviedo.
As a composer, his symphonic works have been performed by different Spanish and Portuguese orchestras and conducted by maestros such as Javier Viceiro, Christopher Bochmann, Iminas Kucinskas and Isabel Rubio. His chamber works have been performed in Venezuela, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, Latvia and Germany. In addition, he is the artistic director and leading composer of Caspervek Ensemble, a group devoted to silent film live music, with which he has performed in more than a dozen European countries. In August 2022 he premieres at the Festival delle Nazioni in Città di Castello his first opera: "Loba Branca".
He has also developed an extensive career in different genres such as folk, jazz, electronic or improvised music, collaborating with artists as diverse as Peter Arnesen, the indie band Cervan, the Gharbo Orchestra or Nelson Quinteiro and writing music for other arts such as poetry or theatre. He has collaborated with the Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático de Galicia and with different theater collectives such as CinemaSticado.
Since 2017 he co-directs the online radio show "Anónimo IV", focused on musical research and dissemination.
About the music
My style is based on searching for familiar places between academic music and other genres that influenced me a lot, such as folk, jazz, and urban popular music. I like intricate rhythms and using a sort of "extended diatonism" (that's how I like to call it!).